Toronto Arrival Guide: the $12.35 UP Express, PRESTO and a City That Runs on the Yonge Line

One airport, two terminals

Toronto Pearson (YYZ) splits its traffic between Terminal 1 — the Air Canada fortress plus most international and long-haul arrivals — and Terminal 3, the WestJet and low-cost hall with a share of transatlantic leisure routes. Both terminals feed the same train, the same taxi geography and the same e-gates; what changes is walking distance and which airline lounge you are hunting. Check the terminal code on your ticket before booking an airport meeting point.

There is no airport-choice decision ( Billy Bishop on the island serves a small domestic-and-US set, and “Toronto” fares overwhelmingly mean YYZ) — which makes Toronto the rare North American arrival where the transport question has one clean answer.

Getting into the city: UP Express, buses and taxis (2026 fares)

The UP Express is the flagship and the honest default: trains run every 15 minutes from both terminals to Union Station in 25–28 minutes. The adult one-way fare is $12.35 (about $24.70 return), dropping to $9.25 with a PRESTO card or a contactless credit/debit tap at the gates — and children and seniors ride cheaper. Union Station is the downtown transit motherhouse: the subway, GO regional trains and the PATH underground walkway all begin there, which means many visitors ride one train to within a blocks-of-the-hotel walk.

The budget alternative is the TTC 900 Airport Express bus (from both terminals to Kipling station on the subway) for an ordinary TTC fare, or the 52 bus — slower, cheaper, and the standard local route. Taxis and rideshares to downtown run roughly CAD $55–75 depending on traffic and terminal. The decision rule: bags or a schedule, UP Express; light bags and a downtown-adjacent budget, the 900; three-plus travellers, a car starts to divide sensibly.

First-day practicalities: eTA, PRESTO, tipping and the Canadian clock

Entry: visa-exempt travellers (everyone except US citizens, who skip it) need the Canadian eTA — CAD $7, applied online, usually approved in minutes to days, valid five years — sorted before you fly. Passport-stamp rules differ by nationality; check yours when booking. Pearson immigration at the transatlantic morning wave can queue; the e-gates help.

Payment: cards and contactless work everywhere, and Toronto transit takes them too — tapping the same credit card on TTC and UP gates charges the PRESTO fare automatically, so most visitors never buy a physical card. Cash barely registers in daily Toronto. Tipping follows the North American 15–20% convention at sit-down service. Data via a Canadian eSIM or a local SIM at the airport; Canadian data is pricier than European, so a tourist pack beats pay-as-you-go.

The rhythm: Toronto is a food-city with early kitchens by European standards, a subway that closes around 1:30 am, and a winter that visitors underestimate — if your trip is November-to-March, the PATH (the downtown underground network) is not a novelty, it is infrastructure. Summer is patio season and the city lives outdoors.

Getting around Toronto: Line 1, streetcars and the PATH

The subway is two working lines for visitors: Line 1 (the U-shaped Yonge–University spine through Union, King, Queen and the Annex) and Line 2 (Bloor–Danforth). Streetcars — the 501 Queen and 510 Spadina above all — fill the east–west fabric and run on the same tap. Fares are flat and capped: a single TTC ride is about $3.35 with automatic weekly capping on contactless, so the pass-versus-pay calculation does itself.

Walking works downtown: the grid from Union to Bloor is an honest 40-minute walk with the subway as the shortcut, and the harbourfront path runs kilometres west-to-east. Toronto’s islands (the ferries from Queen’s Quay) are the escape valve: 15 minutes by boat to a car-free park with the skyline view postcard. GO trains serve Niagara day-trips and the suburbs; the UP Express doubles as the airport leg of that same regional system.

Where to base yourself: five areas, five different trips

Downtown Core (King West, Entertainment District) is the first-timer default: Union Station, the arenas, the restaurants and the PATH beneath your feet. Queen West and Trinity-Bellwoods are the style pick: indie shops, the best cheap eating, a streetcar ride from the core. The Annex and Yorkville split the budget map — student cafes and museum-going on one side, boutique luxury on the other, both on Line 1. The Harbourfront suits summer visitors: lake walks, ferry docks, festival stages. Leslieville and the Danforth reward second visits with neighbourhood Toronto at neighbourhood prices.

Prices flex with events (film festival in September distorts everything) and with winter — which is the value season and a genuinely interesting city under snow. What is stable: downtown hotels price below New York and London equivalents, and the airport train means any Line 1 address works car-free.

The mistakes that ruin first days (and the fixes)

Landing without an eTA: the airline checks it at the gate and the app takes minutes at home. Taking a taxi downtown at 16:30 on a Friday: the Gardiner is a car park — the UP Express ignores it. Buying a PRESTO card for a weekend: your contactless card already rides the gates. Underestimating distances in winter: a “ten-minute walk” in a January wind is a subway ride. Eating on Yonge-Dundas because it is central: walk five minutes in any direction and the food improves while the prices drop. And the classic: treating Toronto as a stopover on the way to Niagara — give the city its day; the falls are an easy morning train away tomorrow.